Method and apparatus for mounting pieced fur upon a carrier sheet



R. H. PLASS Oct. 10, 1939.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MOUNTING PIECED FUR UPON A CARRIER SHEET FiledDec. 6, 1938 3' Sheets-Sheet 1 H INVENTOR. Zez'fifi PZmyr i 0 7 BY MATTORNEY.

R. H PLASS 2,175,309

CED FUR UPON A CARRIER SHEET Oct. 10, 1939.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MOUNTING PIE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec.

INVENTOR. I jfijez'ZfiCFZasJ' BY 2 r Z ATTORNEY.

Oct. 10, 1939. R H PLASS 7 2,175,309

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MOUNTING PIECED FUR UPON A CARRIER SHEET FiledDec. s, 1938 v s Sheets-Sheet a l/III/IIIII/I/I/IIIII/IIIIII/I/l/I/lINVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

Patented Oct. 10, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Robert H. Plass,Upper Montclair, N. J. Application December 6, 1938, Serial No. 244,157

14 Claims.

This invention relates to method and apparatus for gluing fur pieces toflexible sheet material, such as paper; and the invention has reference,more particularly, to novel apparatus ii; adapted to assist the operatorin assembling fur pieces, which may comprise fur scrap or whole skins,in edge to edge relation toform a desired substantially continuous areaof pieced fur, and thereupon apply the pieces or skins so assembled to aflexible carrier or backing sheet which is surfaced with a suitableadhesive, whereby the fur is ailixed upon and secured to said carrier orbacking sheet.

Fur scrap, comprising trimmings and cuttings 1. from animal pelts,constitutes a waste product of garment manufacturing and likeindustries, and provides a source of raw material from which hat fur maybe obtained. Owing, however, to the small size and irregular shapes ofsuch fur scrap, the individual pieces thereof cannot be satisfactorilyor profitably handled in application to dehairing machines, andconsequently, the hat fur industry, in order todehair such fur scrap,must first assemble a plurality of the fur scrap 25 pieces edge toedgein glued attachment to and upon a flexible carrier or backing sheet,such e. g. as paper, to thereby form a flexible layer thereof ofsubstantial area suitable for eflicient manipulation and application todehairing machinery. 3Q Heretofore the operations of assembling andgluing the pieces of scrap fur to a carrier or backing sheet has beenwholly performed by hand opera.- tions, which are slow, tedious,laborious and comparatively expensive. Furthermore, such hand 35operations are not entirely satisfactory in result for the reason thatthe operator must coat with an adhesive, such as glue, the skin side ofsuch individual piece of scrap fur, and then apply the coated skin sidethereof to the sheet material 40 upon which the same is to be assembledand mounted. In so doing, the hair sides of the pieces must be turnedupward or outward, and since the hair tends to overhang the edges of theskin, these edges are concealed from the view of the operator, thusrendering it almost impossible to closely assemble and mount the pieceswithout either overlapping or leaving intervening gaps, and consequentlyit is difficult to attain that smooth and close edge to edge matching orpiecing 50 which is desired and which disposes the scrap to the bestadvantage for the efiicient carrying out of subsequent dehairingoperations.

Having the above mentioned and other objections to hand assembling andpasting of fur scrap 55 to a carrier or backing sheet in view, it is anobject of this invention to provide a novel method and apparatus wherebythe assembling of fur scrap pieces or even whole skins by the operatorin desired closely disposed edge to edge relation may be more easily andrapidly carried on, and 5 whereby the pieces are automatically held inassembled relation and then automatically brought into engagement andsecured to a glue coated carrier or backing sheet.

Other objects of this invention, not at this time more particularlyenumerated, will be understood from the following detailed descriptionof the same.

An illustrative embodiment of this invention is shown in theaccompanying drawings, in which:-

Fig. 1 is a side elevation, Fig. 2 is a top plan, and Fig. 3 is acentral longitudinal vertical section of the novel apparatus, accordingto this invention, for mounting pieced fur upon a carrier sheet.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary top plan view, drawn on an enlarged scale, andshowing the manner in which the scrap fur pieces are assembled and heldsubject to the application thereto of a glue coated 4 carrier or backingsheet; and Fig. 5 is a longitudinal vertical section, taken on line 55in Fig. 4.

Similar characters of reference are employed in the above describedviews, to indicate corresponding parts.

A novel apparatus suitable for the practice of the method of fur piecingand mounting according to this invention, in the illustrated embodimentthereof, comprises a supporting frame provided by laterally spaced sidemembers l0, supported at their ends by suitable standards or leg membersll. Said side members in are secured in laterally spaced relation bytransverse tie bars or rods 12. Freely rotatable on a shaft l3, mountedupon and between said side members I0, is a drum [4. Said drum I4 islocated adjacent to one end of the apparatus. Spaced away from said drumM, at a suitable distance therefrom, is an upper idler roller l5 and alower idler roller I6. Said rollers I5 and I 6 are supported by shaftsI1 mounted upon and between said side members I0. Running over said drumMand the upper and lower idler rollers l5 and I6 is an endless wirescreen belt or apron l8, the upper course of which runs horizontallybetween said upper idler roller l5 and said drum l4 adjacent to the topof the apparatus.

Supported across the top of the frame of the apparatus, with its forwardopen end contiguous to the receiving end of the forwardly running uppercourse of said wire screen belt or apron I8 is a hopper or bin It inwhich may be deposited a supply of fur scrap desired to be piecedtogether and mounted upon a carrier or backing sheet.

Cooperative with that portion of the wire screen belt or apron i8 whichruns over and around the drum i4 is an endless presser belt or apronwhich substantially corresponds in width to the width of the wire screenbelt or apron i8. Said presser belt or apron 20 is preferably made ofrubberized canvas or similar material. Said presser belt or apron 20 issupported by idler rollers 25, 22 and 23 and by a driven roller 24. Saididler rollers are mounted on shafts 25 supported by and between theframe side members 10, and said driven roller 24 is fixed on a drivenshaft 26 mounted upon and between the frame side members iii. The idlerroller 2! is disposed somewhat in advance of the drum is above the uppercourse of said wire screen belt or apron l8. From said idler roller iithe presser belt or apron 29 runs forwardly in contact with the wirescreen belt or apron and extends with the latter around the drum i4, andthence rearwardly contiguous to the lower course of the wire screen beltor apron l8 to and around the driven roller 24, thence extending in areturn course forwardly to and around the idler roller 23, thenceupwardly to and around the idler roller 22 from which it returns to saididler roller 2 l.

The means for driving the presser belt or apron 20 and associated wirescreen belt or apron l8 comprises a main drive shaft 21 mounted inbearings 28 at one end of the supporting frame, said shaft 27 beingsuitably driven from a source of power, as e. g. by belt actuated fastand loose drive pulleys 29. Afiixed on said drive shaft 2'! is a drivesprocket 36 which actuates a drive chain 3| that engages a drivensprocket 32 affixed to said driven shaft 26. By this power transmissionmeans the driven roller 24 is rotated in a clockwise direction, thusdriving the pressure belt or apron 20, and by its frictional engagementwith the wire screen belt or apron 18, directly or through interposedmaterial, causing the latter and its supporting drum l4 to run in ananti-clockwise direction.

Means are provided for drawing off sheet material from a supply roll andthereupon coating a face of the same with an adhesive, to thus furnish aflexible carrier or backing sheet upon which the pieced fur scrap is tobe mounted. This means comprises a pair of bearing brackets 33 tosupport, at the forward end of the apparatus, a transverse spindle 34upon which is rotatably mounted a roll of sheet material 35, such aspaper. Mounted between the side members In of the frame of theapparatus, in a location above the drum i4, is means for applying liquidglue or like cementitious substance to a face of the sheet material 35preparatory to applying the pieced fur scrap thereto, the samecomprising a glue reservoir 36 in which is revolved a transverse coatingroll 31, the shaft 38 of which is provided with a pulley 39 over whichruns a drive belt 40 from a drive pulley 4l operated by said main shaft21. Mounted upon and across the side members I0 of the apparatus frameis a lower guide roller 42 and an upper guide roller 43, the latterrunning contiguous to said coating roll 31. The sheet material passesfrom the supply roll thereof to and around the lower guide roller 42 andthence between the upper guide roller 43 and said coating roll 31, so asto pass a face of the sheet material in contact with the latter, andthence downwardly over the pressure belt or apron 20, where the latterpasses over the idler roller 2|, whereby the leading end portion of thecoated sheet material 35 may pass between said pressure belt or apron 2Band the wire screen or belt l8, so as to be gripped and movedtherebetween together with the pieced fur to be applied to the gluecoated face of said sheet material, as will be subsequently more fullyexplained.

Suitably supported between the side members ll] of the apparatus frameis a suction box 44 of suitable shape, the upper open end of whichunderlies the wire screen belt or apron 18 along the extent of thelatter moving between the upper idler roller l5 and the pressure belt orapron supporting idler roller 2|. Connected with said suction box 44 tocommunicate with the interior thereof is an air exhaust conduit 45, theouter end of which is operatively connected with an air exhaust pump orfan (not shown).

Mounted beneath and in opposition to said pressure belt or apronsupporting idler roller 2|, is a spring pressed pressure roller 46 toyieldably urge the forwardly moving courses of said wire screen belt orapron l8 and pressure belt or apron 20 together so as to operativelygrip the sheet material 35 and pieced fur scrap interposed therebetween.

In the use of the apparatus, the fur scrap to be pieced is depositedwithin the hopper or bin l9, and the operator, standing beside theapparatus, takes therefrom the pieces of fur scrap 41, or whole skins asthe case may be, and lays them upon the wire screen belt or apron l8while the latter moves slowly forward toward the drum l4. The operatorstarting at the far margin of said wire screen belt or apron, appliesthe pieces of fur scrap 41, fur side down, across the same, beingcareful to bring the margins of said pieces as closely contiguous aspossible, thus forming a layer of closely pieced fur across the widthand along the length of said wire screen belt or apron 18, as the lattermoves forward. The suction effect exercised by the suction box 44, andoperative through the pervious wire screen belt or apron l8, causes thethus applied pieces of fur scrap to be sucked down against the wirescreen belt or apron l8, and thus firmly held thereon againstdisplacement from the pieced assembled relation in which the operatorhas disposed the same. In the meantime, the glue coated carrier orbacking material 35 is moved to pass between the presser belt or apron20 and said wire screen belt or apron l8, and in such manner that itsglue coated face is opposed to the wire screen belt or apron. As thewire screen belt or apron IB carries the assembled pieced fur scrapforwardly, the upwardly facing skin sides of the latter are opposed tothe glue coated face of the carrier or backing material 35, as it passestherewith between the presser belt or apron 20 and the wire screen beltor apron l8, and thence around the drum [4, so that said skin sides ofthe assembled fur scrap are pressed against and adhered to the carrieror backing material 35 during the travel thereof around the drum I4.

In the operation of matching and piecing the fur scrap while assemblingthe same on the wire screen belt or apron [8, there is likelihood thatportions of the fur scrap pieces will overhang the near margin of thewire screen belt or apron l8 toward which the operator works whenpiecing the fur scrap in assembled relation thereon. In view of this,provision is made for shearing or trimming off such overhanging furportions, and

to this end a rotary knife 48 is mounted adjacent to and for cooperationwith an end of the drum [4 in such manner as to shear away suchoverhanging fur portions. The side member ID of the apparatus frame,adjacent to which said rotary knife 48 is mounted, is provided with anopen way 49 contiguous to the near margin of the wire screen or belt l8,so that the overhanging fur portions may unimpededly move therethroughtoward the knife 48. Said way 49 terminates in an enlarged lateraldischarge opening 50 near the knife location, so that the fur portionssheared away by the knife 48 may fall outwardly therethrough andexteriorly of the apparatus. Said rotary knife 48 is mounted on a drivenshaft 5| journaled in and between the frame side members [0, and anexterior end of said shaft 5| is provided with a pulley 52 over whichruns a drive belt 53 driven by a drive pulley 54 mounted on the mainshaft 21.

In order to maintain the courses of the presser belt or apron 20 and thewire screen belt l8 as they pass away from the drum l4 firmly urgedtogether, and in maintained gripping relation to the interposed carrieror backing material 35 and pieced fur scrap 41 applied to the latter,said courses are caused to move over a convexly curved supporting memberor block 55. In this manner, the carrier or backing material and appliedfur are held together for a sufficient length of time to assure settingof the glue by which the same are adhered together.

As the carrier or backing material 35 with the assembled fur scrapadhered thereto emerges from between the presser belt or apron 20 andthe wire screen belt or apron l8, the same is extended rearwardly to atake up roll 56, the spindle 51 of which is removably journaled inbearing brackets 58 connected with the rear end of the apparatus frame.Means for rotating said roll 56 to wind up the backed fur thereon,comprises a belt drive pulley 59 affixed to the driven shaft 26 and abelt driven pulley 60 aflixed to the roll spindle 51, over which pulleysruns the transmission belt 6|, the same being crossed to apply propertake up rotation to the take up roll 56.

From the above description it will be obvious that a novel and efficientmethod of assembling fur on a carrier sheet is provided by thisinvention, as well as a very simple and yet efficient apparatus whichmay be used in aid of the practice of the novel method of piecing andmounting scrap fur or the like upon flexible carrier backing material,whereby said method may be pursued in a continuous manner if desired.

It will be understood that many changes could be made in the abovedescribed method, and also in the construction of the describedapparatus, that many apparently widely difierent variations of thisinvention could be made without departing from the scope thereof asdefined by the following claims. It is therefore intended that allmatter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanyingdrawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limitingsense.

I claim:

1. In apparatus of the kind described, a mesh belt and a'presser apronsupported and driven so that portions of the courses thereof run inopposed contiguous relation, means to supply a run of carrier sheetmaterial for engagement between the opposed courses of said mesh beltand presser apron, means to apply an adhesive coating to that face ofsaid carriersheet material which is to run in opposition tosaid meshbelt when said carrier sheet material passes between the latter and saidpresser apron, and suction means cooperative with an exposed receivingcourse of said mesh belt operative to hold fur pieces applied thereto inpieced together assembled relation whereby said mesh belt will carry thesame into engagement with the adhesive coated face of said carrier sheetmaterial for attachment thereto while passing therewith intermediate theopposed courses of said mesh belt and presser apron.

2. In apparatus of the kind described, a mesh belt and a presser apronsupported and driven so that portions of the courses thereof run inopposed contiguous relation, means to supply a run of carrier sheetmaterial for engagement between the opposed courses of said mesh beltand presser apron, means to apply an adhesive coating to that face ofsaid carrier sheet material which is to run in opposition to said meshbelt when said carrier sheet material passes between the latter and saidpresser apron, suction means cooperative with an exposed receivingcourse of said mesh belt operative to hold fur pieces applied thereto inpieced together assembled relation whereby said mesh belt will carry thesame into engagement with the adhesive coated face of said carrier sheetmaterial for attachment thereto while passing therewith intermediate theopposed courses of said mesh belt and presser apron, and a driventake-up roll means for winding up the fur mounted carrier sheet materialafter it emerges from between the opposed courses of said mesh belt andpresser apron.

3. In apparatus of the kind described, a rotatable drum, idler rollersspaced relatively to said drum, an endless open mesh belt supported bysaid drum and rollers so as to provide an exposed receiving coursethereof leading to said drum, an endless presser apron supported toprovide a portion thereof to run in superposed relation to said meshbelt over said drum, means to impart operative movement to said presserapron and mesh belt, means to supply a run of carrier sheet material forengagement between the opposed courses of said mesh belt and presserapron, means to apply an adhesive coating to that face of said carriersheet material which is to run in opposition to said mesh belt when saidcarrier sheet material passes between the latter and said presser apron,and suction means cooperative with said exposed receiving course of saidmesh belt operative to hold fur pieces applied thereto in piecedtogether assembled relation whereby said mesh belt will carry thesameinto engagement with the adhesive coated face of said carrier sheetmaterial for attachment thereto while passing therewith intermediate theopposed courses of said mesh belt and presser apron.

4. In apparatus of the kind described, a rotatable drum, idler rollersspaced relatively to said drum, an endless open mesh belt supported bysaid drum and rollers so as to provide an exposed receiving coursethereof leading to said drum, an endless presser apron supported toprovide a portion thereof to run in superposed relation to said meshbelt over said drum, means to impart operative movement to said presserapron and mesh belt, means to supply a row of carrier sheet material forengagement between the opposed courses of said mesh belt and presserapron, means to apply an adhesive coating to that face of said carriersheet material which is to run in opposition to said mesh belt when saidcarrier sheet material passes between the latter and said presser apron,suction means cooperative with said exposed receiving course of saidmesh belt operative to hold fur pieces applied thereto in piecedtogether assembled relation whereby said mesh belt will carry the sameinto engagement With the adhesive coated face of said carrier sheetmaterial for attachment thereto While passing therewith intermediate theopposed course of said mesh belt and presser apron, and a driven take-uproll means to receive the fur mounted carrier sheet material emergingfrom between the opposed courses of said mesh belt and presser apron.

5. In apparatus of the kind described as defined in claim 1, a shearingmeans operative to trim away portions of fur pieces applied to thecarrier sheet material which project beyond a side margin of the latter.

6. In apparatus of the kind described as defined in claim 3, a rotaryshearing means cooperative with said drum and operative to trim awayportions of fur pieces applied to the carrier sheet material whichproject beyond a side margin of the latter, and means to drive saidshearing means.

'7. In apparatus of the kind described as defined in claim 4, a rotaryshearing means cooperative with said drumv and operative to trim awayportions of fur pieces appliedto the carrier sheet material whichproject beyond a side margin of the latter, and means to drive saidshearing means.

8. In apparatus of the kind described, a rotatable drum, idler rollersspaced relatively to said drum, an endless open mesh belt supported bysaid drum and rollers so as to provide an exposed receiving coursethereof leading to said drum, an endless presser apron, a series ofcarrying roliers to support said presser apron, one of which is locatedin advance of said drum so as to lead a portion of said presser apron torun in superposed relation to said mesh belt and to pass therewitharound said drum, means to drive one of said carrying rollers to impartoperative motion to said presser apron and to said mesh belt through thelatter, means to supply a run of carrier sheet material for engagementbetween the opposed courses of said mesh belt and presser apron, meansto apply an adhesive coating to that face of said carrier sheet materialwhich is to run in opposition to said mesh belt when said carrier sheetmaterial passes between the latter and said presser apron, and suctionmeans cooperative with said exposed receiving course of said mesh beltoperative to hold fur pieces applied thereto A in pieced togetherassembled relation whereby said mesh belt will carry the same intoengagement with the adhesive coated face of said car rier sheet materialfor attachment thereto while passing therewith intermediate the opposedcourses of said'mesh belt and presser apron.

9. In apparatus of the kind described as defined in claim 8, asupporting means for holding together the portions of the opposedcourses of saidmesh belt and presser apron which run from said drum tothe point of separation thereof.

10. In apparatus of the kind described as defined in claim 8, includinga driven take-up roll means to receive the fur mounted carrier sheetmaterial emerging from between the opposed courses of said mesh belt andpresser apron.

11. In apparatus of the kind described as defined in claim 8, a'shearingmeans operative to trim away portions of fur piecesapplied to thecarrier sheet material which project beyond a side margin of the latter.

.12. A method of piecing together and mounting fur on a carrier sheetcomprising, the provision of a pervious support, depositing fur piecesfur side down upon said support in contiguous edge to edge relation,applying suction to said support to temporarily hold the deposited furpieces as assembled thereon against displacement, and then applying andadhering to the exposed skin faces of the thus assembled fur pieces asheet of carrier material.

13. A method of piecing together and mounting fur on a carrier sheetcomprising, the provisionof a pervious support, depositing fur piecesiur side down upon said support in contiguous edge to edge relation,applying suction to said support to temporarily hold the deposited furpieces as assembled thereon against displacement, bringing the exposedskin faces of the thus assembled fur pieces into adhering engagementwith the adhesive coated face of a carrier sheet for attachment thereto,releasing the fur from the holding suction effect applied theretothrough the pervious support, and finally removing the fur mountedcarrier sheet from said support.

14. A method of piecing together and mounting fur on a carrier sheetcomprising, the provision of a pervious support, depositing fur piecesfur side down upon said support in contiguous edge to edge relation,applying suction to said support to temporarily hold the deposited furpieces as assembled thereon against displacement, bringing the exposedskin faces of the thus assembled fur pieces into adhering engagementwith the adhesive coated face of a carrier sheet for attachment thereto,releasing the fur from the holding suction eilect applied theretothrough the pervious support, trimming away portions of fur projectingbeyond the margins of the carrier' sheet, and finally removing the furmounted carrier sheet from said support.

ROBERT E. PLASS.

